Microsoft to Discontinue Original Kinect for Windows

Microsoft has revealed plans to phase out the original Kinect sensor for Windows-based PCs in 2015.

The original Kinect for Windows first released in February of 2012, but has since became obsolete following the release of Kinect v2 in July of last-year and an improved SDK for developers in October of 2014.

"The move to v2 marks the next stage in our journey toward more natural human computing," a member of the Windows team explained in a blog post.

“Likewise, SDK 2.0 offers scores of updates and enhancements, not the least of which is the ability to create and publish Kinect-enabled apps in the Windows Store. At the same time that we publicly released the v2 sensor and its SDK, we also announced the availability of the Kinect Adapter for Windows, which lets developers create Kinect for Windows applications by using a Kinect for Xbox One sensor. The response of the developer community to Kinect v2 has been tremendous: every day, we see amazing apps built on the capabilities of the new sensor and SDK, and since we released the public beta of SDK 2.0 in July, the community has been telling us that porting their original solutions over to v2 is smoother and faster than expected.”

Retailing at $199, Kinect v2 for Windows features improved body, hand and joint orientation when compared with Kinect v1, along with advanced facial tracking, simultaneous multi-app support, and for developers; Unity Pro support.

In our review of Kinect 2.0 for Xbox One, we said “Unfortunately, Kinect 2.0 needs more than just Microsoft’s support to move beyond being an accessory that rounds out the OS, powers a few apps or games, and enables Skype video calling,” before mentioning that “even in its current role as a universal remote and webcam, Kinect’s pretty hard to give up once you get used to it.”